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Bugs and Glitches in Watch Dogs
Glitches and bugs are unintentional features in Watch Dogs. The game also has numerous errors and oversights. Description A glitch, otherwise known as a bug or fault, is an error in the game that produces an effect that was unintended by programmers. Some can be exploited to gain advantages over other players and may be caused by severe lag. Using glitches to get an advantage is often considered cheating. Glitches can also be unintentional and cause minor or even severe problems for the player. It should also be noted that glitches and hacks are different things, the latter requiring the intentional modification and abuse, whilst glitches are unintentional but can still be abused. Below are glitches that can be found in Watch Dogs. Minor bugs are not included. Below is a list of bugs, glitches, errors, and oversights found and experienced in Watch Dogs. Bugs Watch Dogs is a host to numerous bugs which can cause an intended game state to be unachievable. Gameplay Bugs *If the player executes a takedown hack while using the focus ability, they will not be able to disable helicopters or execute any other hacks other than takedowns until they exit focus mode. The prompts will appear, but all attempts will halt before completion, including the graphics themselves. *If a witness dials 911 to report the player for stealing an unoccupied vehicle without the Car Unlock skill, the witness will report the player as being armed with a firearm. Victims of carjackings will only report the player for vehicle theft. *In the Alone Digital Trip, some lethal weapons, (most notably the Vector .45ACP) when picked up in the trip, will be rendered unavailable to purchase in weapons stores. While most weapons available in the trip can be looted from enemies or have alternative spawns, store-exclusive weapons will be rendered unobtainable for the rest of the save's existence. *Blockers have a slight tendency to retract almost immediately after extending during takedown hacks. Although the cutscene will play, if the vehicle in question does not collide with the blockers, it will continue to pursue the player. *Vehicles and NPC characters will sometimes stop spawning altogether, resulting in a ghostly Chicago. This issue is completely client-side, as invaders will cause vehicles and NPC characters to spawn for the duration of the match. *There is a fixer contract that involves stealing a Scafati GT from a performance car dealership. Judging from the target car's position in front of a large glass pane, the player is inclined to smash through the display into the road. However, the glass often will not break, even if the player attempts a running start with the car. *The early PC version of the game commonly crashed during cutscenes. This was later fixed. *During pursuits, if the player shuts a garage door between them and law enforcement, voice lines used for retractable spike strips are used instead. This is also present in the sequel. *If the player causes a helicopter to disengage using the Destroyer, the marksman on board may still fire until the player is out of range. *When reinforcements are called, the car reinforcements arrive in spawns near the area. If the player is nearby during a gang hideout and reinforcements are called, the vehicle may spawn inside of their vehicle. Visual Bugs *Occasionally, tunnels will sometimes be lit by the sun, regardless of the lack of exposure to direct sunlight. In view, while the player is moving, this sunlight will flicker like a texture conflict. *On Original Editions of the game, the livery texture on the Sonarus LX's front-right fender is incorrectly mapped. This is most noticeable with the police interceptor variant. *Patches of grass will sometimes be rendered floating in the air. Audio Bugs *During free-roam police pursuits, the chase music may fade out. If the music does not start playing again and the player evades police, the Media App will be unavailable, citing "unavailable during a pursuit." All theme music will be disabled until the player exits to the menu. *When driving a vehicle, news reports can occasionally be heard. However, the subtitles seen are usually from a completely different news report than the one that the player is hearing. *When driving the Fire Truck, the siren audio will often fade out if left on for a period of time. *During Ghosts of the Past, it is possible for Aiden, Nicky, and Jackson to respawn without Aiden's Sonarus LX. The player can still complete the mission, and normal voice lines still play. However, only Nicky has voice lines tied to her NPC, as Jacks only speaks during cutscenes. The player is also not penalized for causing them harm using a stolen vehicle. Glitches Watch Dogs is host to numerous glitches and exploits, which can cause an unintended game state to be achievable. Gameplay Glitches *Using a motorcycle, it is possible to glitch into buildings and scenery. This well known, and is commonly used by victims in conjunction with the Destroyer. Invaders often use this glitch to become virtually immune to the profiler, although taking explosive damage will still reveal them. A skilled invader can overcome a victim using this glitch by fighting fire with fire. *Another commonly known glitch is that by crashing a vehicle into the entrance of May Stadium, climbing on top of the vehicle, jumping onto an invisible ledge and carefully walking along the invisible barrier, the player may enter the poorly-rendered stadium. *Using a motorcycle, it is possible to fall through the water and ride said motorcycle along the riverbed. *When executing a takedown hack while using focus after upgrading to Slowed Focus, after being booted out of focus, attempting to use focus again will revert to the unupgraded focus speed. This can be fixed by exiting to the menu. *If a victim is killed by law enforcement during an online invasion, the police will not drive or walk around and will be set to search mode, with the victim still set as the primary target. When the victim respawns, they will not possess a heat level, even if they are detected by the immobile officers. When detected, the officers will engage the player in combat, and the only way to lose them is to obtain a legitimate heat level and evade it. *If an invader fires upon a helicopter while the victim forces a disconnect, the helicopter will follow the invader but will not be hostile, even if the invader obtains a heat level. When hacking or attacking this helicopter, it will be disabled permanently, and it will misfire every 5 seconds. (10 with Improved Disable Helicopter) The helicopter can only be removed if the player returns to the menu. **This glitch allows two helicopters to pursue the player, which normally cannot occur. *Although the helicopter is normally considered to be uncontrollable, it is possible for players to enter and control it provided the marksman is gone and the player in question is in close proximity to the helicopter. When piloting it, there is no vehicle camera. *It is possible for the L-Train to derail if it somehow does not stop for a raised lift bridge. Unlike when it is destroyed in the Spider Tank Digital Trip, when derailed in normal Chicago, the L-Train will still be active. Each carriage will detach and will float at track level, and they will spin while spreading out in different directions. They will also phase through buildings, as they were not intended to derail while in service. *Any vehicle parked on the L-Train's tracks will cause the train to slow down and come to a halt. However, this behavior is scripted to stop the L-Train before it collides with said vehicle in its path. If a player drives directly in front of an L-Train, the train will stop immediately, disregarding all real-world physics. *Falling at a certain speed will cause the player to freeze in midair, locked in a pose similar to the falling animation. *If a vehicle falls onto the top of another vehicle at speed, the two vehicles will clip into each other and will subsequently take collision damage. *In most downtown alleyways, there are hackable freight lifts that raise and lower through the ground when hacked. When they retract, a dual hinged cover will close over the lift. When a player is obstructing the cover, the lift will pause, but vehicles will not pause the lift animation. When the cover compacts the vehicle, the vehicle will often clip into the lift, and has a chance to fall into the void underneath the map. Large vehicles such as the Philandra will often be launched by the cover instead of clipping under the map. *Forklifts are located around the map in alleyways and construction sites. Normally, when there is an entity underneath the lift pallet, the lift will pause, and continue once the entity is removed. Causing a blackout will cause the lift to "forget" there is an entity underneath its pallet, and the animation will continue, causing the lift to crush the entity below. Vehicles caught underneath the lift will clip through the map. *When ordering a vehicle using the Car On Demand app, it is possible for the vehicle to spawn clipping inside of a vehicle or destroyed scenery props. If the player attempts to enter this vehicle, it will despawn. *During takedown animations, enemies involved (mainly enforcers) can comment on their general surroundings (such as a power outage) as they're being taken down. Once the animation is complete, they will grunt in pain. *Ramming a Bogen 200 or Lithium SP parked against an immovable object with a large, heavy vehicle at speed will launch the car into the air. It is possible to reach rooftops and circumvent the natural world borders around Chicago using this glitch. *If a victim dies shortly after using Jam Coms during an invasion, the hack will last indefinitely, and the invader is unable to win unless the victim forces a disconnect. This glitch is often considered dishonorable among the hacking community unless the invader is using a third-party trainer to cheat. *If a player manages to flip an NPC vehicle upside down, the driver will pop out as a player normally would, but if the vehicle is returned to its wheels, it will still act as if it had a driver. As such, the vehicle will continue on its way like a summoned Tesla. *In emergency vehicles, by turning off the engine and activating the emergency lighting, it is possible to exit the vehicle while leaving the lights on. *When exiting a car after turning off the engine, if the wheels are turned as the player exits the vehicle, they will retain their position. Entering the car again will cause the wheels to immediately snap back to their resting position. Visual Glitches *After exploding, the paint on a vehicle may not scorch and fade. Developer Oversights *Police cannot attempt to arrest the player, they can only shoot at the player until they are dead. *Police cannot apprehend NPCs outside of pre-scripted sequences. *Despite the Profiler relying on facial recognition technology, most enemies (who generally look identical, due to the lack of character models) are able to be profiled. As well, Enforcers are able to be identified by facial recognition, despite their faces being covered. *When a target has to be taken out without dying to complete a side mission, if they are alerted and are shot during the animation, it will not count as a mission failure. *The player has no collision model when entering and exiting vehicles. This also applies to NPCs and the doors themselves. *Some windows in Chicago have no collision, but in order to access the void through them, the player must use a grenade to propel themselves through. These windows are popular hiding spots for invaders in the glitch community. *When an invasion occurs, the mini-map will "jump." This always happens when joining or creating an online session. *During invasions, the victim is immune to all environmental and weapons damage while in the pause menu. *When reversing on a motorcycle, there is a limit to the top speed of the motorcycle, but there is no limit to the top speed of the reversing animation. Because of this, Aiden's legs will rapidly move back and forth while riding backward in midair. *NPCs are not able to board or exit the L-Train, despite being seen riding onboard and waiting at stations. No matter how long the player remains on the train, the same NPCs will remain on the train. NPCs on the train will also never stand up, sit down or move around. *Despite multiple characters leaving Chicago during the story, there are no visibly conceivable ways for anyone to leave the city by car. The only possible ways to leave Chicago in-game would be by a train station mentioned by T-Bone, by helicopter, or by boat. *Despite the making multiple (unlicensed) appearances in other Ubisoft games such as Splinter Cell: Blacklist and The Crew, (the events of Watch Dogs set between the two) the Merlaut Hotel contradicts the plant's location in both games and in the true Chicago. *The two in-game "L" Train lines, the Red and Blue lines, are named after the real-life Red and Blue lines in the system, but ironically, the Red and Blue lines are the only two lines in real life to be underground in the downtown area. They eventually become elevated outside of the downtown area. *Navy Pier is missing its iconic Centennial Wheel. In its place is the Mad Mile CTOS Center. *A large portion of the city is replaced by Lake Michigan, turning the downtown areas into four islands of variable sizes. * (or at least a representation of it) is absent from the map. However, May Stadium's front facade appears to have been based on Soldier Field, despite May Stadium being a baseball stadium. *In real life, Chicago contains two baseball stadiums, one on the north side and one on the south side, but only one stadium on the west side is present in Watch Dogs. *May Stadium also takes the approximate place of the , as United Center is located approximately where May Stadium is located in-game, and no arena exists in-game. *Pawnee is slightly Northwest of Chicago, instead of far South like the Illinois . *There are no mountains or waterfalls north of Chicago in real life, but exist in-game. These mountains were likely put in place to create northern world borders without obvious invisible walls. **There is also no large wind turbine immediately north of the city, but one exists in-game anyway. *On occasion, Fire Trucks and Ambulances can be found responding around Chicago. However, the drivers are actually fixers with different character models. Despite the origins of their modified pathfinding-AI, they are not hostile and will not pursue the player or exit their vehicle to attack them. They also ignore player hostility. **It is not possible to fire weapons directly at the driver in the truck, despite the aiming reticule turning red. The only way to deal damage to them is to lob an explosive at the cab. **Drivers, when profiled, do not work for the Chicago Fire Department, nor do they hold jobs in the medical profession. They all hold jobs as marksmen, and often possess criminal backgrounds. **Drivers who are not spawned responding to emergencies have correct professions and can be carjacked as usual. *Pursuing officers who lose sight of the player during blackouts will immediately become aware of the player's whereabouts if the player gains another heat level. *Destroying a police helicopter causes no penalties to the reputation bar, provided the marksman was not killed by the initial attack. **Provided there is no previous damage, a helicopter is able to sustain two impacts from a G106, but only one from a GL-94. *When disengaging from a player, helicopters will move in the direction opposite of the player. This can lead to the damaged helicopter moving in a direction opposite of the city. *It is extremely uncommon to stumble upon Police Cruisers patrolling around the city, and the only guaranteed spawn point for inactive police vehicles is the Police Station located in The Wards, despite there being multiple Stations across the city. *Pedestrians cannot pathfind around beached boats. *NPC boats can only navigate around immovable scenery, as they are locked to predetermined paths. **This may result in players being unable to rotate the swing bridges around Abott Island. *Hijacking a boat after killing its driver will cause the driver to immediately despawn. *The player does not enter a swimming animation until Aiden is sufficiently submerged. However, this only applies to Aiden's standing position. If a player parks a vehicle in just the right spot, it is possible to enter the cover animation underwater. Because objects cannot be profiled underwater, this may lead to an unfair advantage during online invasions. *Despite there being numerous motorcycles parked around the city, NPCs are never seen riding any. *An invader cannot fail a hacking contract by suicide unless they have initiated the backdoor installation process. Skilled invaders use this oversight to get away from bad spawns or camping victims. *Water will only disable a land vehicle if the water is above the engine block, allowing some larger vehicles to wade in deeper waters. *During Sometimes You Still Lose, Damien will tell Aiden he is a terror to the city, regardless of his reputation status. Category:Features Category:Features in Watch Dogs